Meeting Grandbaby 15, Baby Porter 2021

 We made a trip to California 2021 to meet Baby Porter.  He is a cutie.  

In addition to meeting Porter, we went to Todd's soccer game.  He is young so it isn't very competitive but it was fun.  Caleb coaches.  We then went camping with Caleb,Todd, Hadley, Camberly and Hayley.  We were at Caswell for just one night.  The next day was Camberly's baseball game.  

New Home in Kingman AZ

 May 05, 2021

After six weeks we are finally in our new house.  Our bed has been delivered as well as washer and dryer.  We had the t.v. in storage and have gotten that and the wifi and cable started today.  We are without much else in terms of furniture, but it feels good to be in our own place.  The movers should be here within a week or so.  We are in a Legacy Jr by Angle Homes on the east side of Kingman.  

Dewey's in Hyrum

 I was frying some left over mashed potatoes and said to myself, I'm making Dewey's hash browns.  Dewey's was the restaurant in Hyrum.  Sometimes we referred to it affectionately as "the greasy spoon" but I think that was affection.  We ate there frequently; not as a family but usually us boys.  Weldon and I loved their hamburger steak which was only $1.25.  However out most significant memory was playing pin ball on the game in the front corner.  Dave DeBolt lived closest, and consequently he was usually the best at the game.  He had figured how to earn lots of free games on the machine.  Sometimes we would go and have a good time.  There would be five of us crowded in the corner, Dave and his brother Ben and myself and my two brothers, Weldon and Charlie.  We had great fun.  

The commercial district were Dewey's was located was all knocked down to make way for the Hyrum museum and library.

Malad Revisited: A Place from My Youth

 Malad is where we would make an annual journey from Hyrum to play in a baseball tournament.  Sometime we would make an additional journey to play a couple ball games.  For the most part, Malad has not changed much.  The ball diamond where we use to play is still there with its rock stairs and walls.  The bowling alley is still there, as is the American Legion, where we stayed several times as youth.  The Dude Ranch Cafe and the swimming pool are also still there.  The high school still stands but is vacant.  The elementary next door is still used.  The new high school is in the south part of town.  It has many more ball diamonds than just the one in town center.  The old hospital where we stayed is no longer there.  It was next to where the library is now.  There is new business where you exit from the I-15, including a Burger King.  

Weight Wars

I came across something really scary: a record of my weight from 2001 through 2003.  I started at 292 in December of 2001.  However I was down to 285 by mid January; only to blossom back up by the end of the year.  My last recorded weight in 2002, early December, was 292.  Then I became my heaviest.  I started 2003 at 298.  That is just gross.  That is the most I have weighed my entire life.  That is 100 pounds above the obese line.  I recorded that by the end of 2003 I was back to 285.  I have continued a mostly downward spiral, with significance periods of getting stuck.  I am half of the way to the obese line--in other words I am 50 pounds lighter than my heaviest with another 50 to go.
What have been the consequences.  I have diabetes and tinnitus, and sleep apnea and high blood pressure.  Weight is a contributing factor in all these areas.  I hope when I am no longer obese--some of these health issues will be resolved.  I would be grateful if just one or two  would improve and I not have to take so many medications.

To Mexico with Señor Oswald: The family Where I stayed in Guadalajara

It didn't write the name on the pictures, but had it written in a note book.  If I ever find that note book I will add the names, but for now I dan't remember them.  This is the family where Gordon (from Brigham City) and I bunked while we were in Mexico.  They took us for a car tour through Guadalajara and we saw many things, including statues and the large soccer stadium.  I also took public transportation for the first time, a bus to get to a large park.  The family fed us cornflakes with bananas for breakfast, tortillas often for lunch, with fried eggs.  The tortillas were not wasted if left over, they were put into soup, or used like pasta with some kind of sauce. 

In this picture I am with the oldest daughter.  I think that is her husband

Gordon with the same 

The entire family.  Mother sitting, father standing

I think this is the guitar I bought at the flea market

The little guy might be a grandson

This Little Gospel Light of Mine

A song I loved to sing in primary growing up

Duckwater: Working with BYU Native American Services

While I lived in Duckwater I had the chance to work with BYU Native American Services.  They help sponsor a tribal dinner for the holidays, which we used to fee the tribe for a funeral.  They also sponsored a dentist to come to the reservation and do dental work for free.  Dr. Max Blackham became our family dentist after we moved to Utah.  I received this letter from Dale Tingey after we relocated.

Soccer Coach

I first coached soccer for AYSO.  I coached the team from Hyrum, 11 and 12 year olds.  I did not grow up with soccer, so this was all learning for me.  I coached kids from the community.
However after I was a father, I coached my kids.  This was in the Cupertino, West San Jose league.  I would usually coach them until about 12, and then hand them over to others who had been coaching longer.  I figured they would have more to teach them.
Major League Soccer would send people to give trainings every year.  These trainings would include material to help with organizing practice.  They would give books with suggested games.  I also purchased a book, Soccer Practice games: 120 games for technique, Training and Tactics by Joe Loxbacher.  I found parts of this book very helpful.  Others too advanced for the age I was teaching.  Crab soccer was always a favorite, and taught both positioning and endurance and strength.  I also liked some of the throw-in games, ass well as the go games.  Some of the warm=up activities would include dribbling and then squash the ball, or side-to-side, or "I've got an injury."  This would help with stretching.
I must admit, I ways always offensive minded in soccer.  I had difficulty teaching defensive skills.  However over the years I got better at this.  I think I coached most of my kids, Mark and Jeremy and Caleb for sure.  Also Charity played for me one year, and Sheri coached Miranda one year.  My kids wee always some of the better on the team.  We played in the district tournament several years, meaning we took first or second.
I always enjoyed this.  When the kids were older, I converted to officiating.  I use to particularly enjoy lines, but I did officiate in the middle as well.

My BB Gun: Hid by my Parents

I really wanted a BB gun when  I was a kid, and finally I received one for Christmas.  This was a nice gun.  You could load a whole slew of BB's, or you could load pellets one at a time.  It was fun.  I used it with friends to shoot birds.  Not a very comely activity, but mostly I missed.  One time I actually hit a bird, and was so distressed that I didn't shot at birds after that.  I would also use the gun to shoot at army men.  One time, I was watching t.v. with my gun in hand, pretending to shoot at characters on the screen.  The gun actually went off, and hit the t.v. console.  Our t.v. had a large consul, so I didn't damage the working mechanism at all, but I left a BB dent in the wood.
Shortly after that my BB gun came up missing.  I couldn't find it anywhere.  I looked and looked with no luck.
However, several years later I did find it.  It was in the fruit room, above the heating ducts that were above your head.  It was close to the furnace so the duct was very large there and afforded a good hiding place.  I only had it a couple days though, when it disappeared again.  I never did find it again.

8 Natural Swimming Spots With The Clearest, Most Pristine Water In Nevada

4. Big Water Spring – Railroad Valley

Flickr / Mary-Austin & Scott

The largest geothermal hot spring in Nevada, Big Water Spring offers beautifully clear water of about 91-93 degrees. The sacred waters of the Duckwater Shoshone Tribe are a designated critical habitat of Railroad Valley Spring Fish, but the spring remains open to the public for enjoyment. There’s a stairway with handrails leading into the spring, which is naturally heated by the earth. 

This is from a Nevada Tourist resource.  I spent many many days in this pool of water.  It was never cold.  It offered a steady flow of warm water from which a catfish farm enterprise developed.  However it provided many enjoyable hours.  I would help youth recreation activities in the summer, and making it to the pond was an almost daily experience during the summer.  

Driving 100

Can't say I have been that fast often, but one time, in the Grand Prix I had purchased from my sister, I was challenged to see if I could do 100.  This is the first car I had ever owned.  It was while driving to Blackfoot for my field placement at the State Hospital there.  I traveled with Blair Gardner and Mary Ellen Spackman.  Blair challenged me, "Can this thing do a 100?"  So we got off the freeway after Pocatello, and found some back roads on which to try out the Grand Prix.  It hit 100.  However the springs were so loss it didn't do so safely.  The car was really bouncing.  Scared me enough that I slowed down as quickly as we hit 100.

That car, likely because of the springs, had a bad habit of hitting the differential case on the bottom, which would push the casing into the differential and it would make a terrible noise.  I had to get it fixed a few times, once in the garage and once a friend of Weldon's in Tintic.

About Me

I found this on facebook, and it looks like a good way to introduce myself.  
Marriages................... 1
Divorces......................0
Proposals................... 2 I was desperate before I met Sheri
Tattoos....................... 0
Piercings.....................0
Children..................... 8 awesome children (1 in heaven)
Grandkids.................. 10 and almost 11.  Mine are the cutest
Surgeries....................1 tonsillectomy
Quit a job...................Yes, at the turkey farm, and some others due to school issues
Flown on a plane........ Yes,
100+miles in a car........Mileage or speed? Yes on both
Shot a gun...................Yes
Hit a deer.................... More misses than hits
Hit a deer in a car.........No, my wife has
Zip Lining ....................Only the one at Camp Lehi which isn't there any more.
Fallen in love................ Yes, six infatuations, one love
Watched someone give birth.....Yes. first was the worse
Watched someone die.... No
Cried over someone.........Yes, several people including my sister
Been to Canada.............. Yes
Been to Mexico................Yes
Rode in an ambulance...... No
Visited Las Vegas........... Yes.
Sang karaoke.................. Yes but I am not very good at it; I need a pianist who can fudge over my mistakes
Been downhill skiing.........No
Rode on a motorcycle.......Yes
Rode on a horse............. .Yes, one of the scariest things I have done, during Star of Justice
Stayed in a hospital........ .No, not over night, except with Sheri having babies
Donated blood................ .Yes, it makes me queasy
Rode in the back of a police car...No just the front with Roosevelt PD making a visit..

Duckwater Recognition Award

Duckwater May 30, 1985: In Duckwater the tribe had an annual recognition dinner to honor their employees and tribal members.  I remember the first year I was there at the awards ceremony hoping maybe one of the awards would come my way.  It didn't.
However my second year the tribe did present me with a certificate of appreciation.  Jerry Millett, the Tribal Chairman, present me with the award.  Ironically it came on the same day I resigned to take employment in Utah.
My journal notes, "The Tribe honored me with a certificate of appreciation the same day I announced my resignation.  They had planned it previously"
I felt the award was well earned.  I really feel I did my best in my employment in Duckwater.  At times it took thinking of creative ways of making use of myself--but for the most part I kept busy, and hopefully I had an influence of good.

Moses Lake Stake Conference

When we lived in Othello, (up until 1963) Stake Conference was in Moses Lake, about an hour away in those days.  There were two Sunday Conference sessions, morning and afternoon.  I imagine it was feasible to run home; however a better strategy was to have a picnic lunch.  I remember the most common lunch was ham sandwiches.  I think ham sandwiches have been one of my favorites, maybe as a memory to good times with friends.  Even though it was the Sabbath, we kids would find something fun to do as we waited for the next session.  Usually we would play in the grounds of the church, tag or hide and seek.

Duckwater Community Projects 1983-85: Physical Education: Duckwater Shoshone Tribal School

When you work for a small community, you become involved any many different activities.  On of those was helping the Duckwater Tribal school with recreation.  I had experience with community recreation in Hyrum, Utah where I grew up.  I also drew lots from materials I borrowed from Clyde Buff, who had graduated in recreation from Utah State University.  I too had taken a class in this topic.
My first year in Duckwater I was pressed for some consistent things to do.  As a result I volunteered for doing physical education at the Duckwater Shoshone School.  Usually I would try to fill the time with activities.  These were games and activities I found in a large book Clyde had from school.  We played some pretty fun games.  One of the favorite was "pomp" a game I played growing up in Hyrum.  We went through lots of games, and then picked the ones we liked best.  We played a crab walk soccer and chase games, and pomp became a favorite.  He also did several different types of relays.  We also played freeze tag.  During the winter we had the use of the tribal gym.  During the summer we played outside.  Then we played softball.  We also played soccer and tag.
One year Jan Halstead helped sponsor an American Lung Association Olympic marathon.  This event was a joint County School and Tribal School event.  The kids took pledges and then participated in several different Olympic type events.  These included broad jump, Frisbee throw and a short dash.  I helped train the kids and then participated as a judge for some of the events.
Another joint event was a jump rope-a-thon.  Jan also helped sponsor this.   Some of the kids took part in this as well.  We had fun in P.E. jumping rope and practicing for this.  Rondee Graham, one of the younger children, was a very good jump roper.  When we did the jump-a-thon groups of four would take turns so one of the four would be jumping all the time.

Duckwater Community Projects: August 1983 - June 1985: Community Center

I was in Duckwater Nevada almost a couple years.  I worked for the Duckwater Shoshone Indian Tribe.  This was a small community of about 200 at the time.  Working in Duckwater was a little different than clinical social work.  because o the low number of residents I became involved in a number of community projects.  To keep busy I became involved in many community projects.

One of those was the establishment of a community center.

We arranged for the tribe to donate one of their old buildings for this.  There was an old building which had been used for head start most recently.  I wrote a grant with Kathy Graham, who was the alcohol and drug worker at the time.  The money for the community center would come from a grant from her program.  With the money we bought needed equipment.  This included a T.V., V.C.R. stereo, ping pong table and some board games.  With the Duckwater Shoshone Elementary School we bought a satellite dish.  The tribe had an old pool table which had been in storage in the garage.  We brought it over and got it through the door after taking the legs off.  

As part of the community center we would try to have activity nights two or three times a week.  Sometimes we would rant a movie.  We would make popcorn and sell it.  We would also buy pop on sale in Ely and then resale it at a profit.  We would also get candy at a distributor in Ely and resale it.  I would also sale pop and candy at work to make money for the rec. center.  

Sometimes I would do an educational group geared to young people at the center.  But usually we stuck to just trying to create a good time without alcohol being involved.  We had a rule against alcohol in the recreation center.   However that didn't keep kids from drinking before they arrived or after they left.

Gladiator Play in Rigby

When I was little, and spending a week with grandparents in Rigby, Idaho, I went with my brother Weldon and my cousin Danny Green to a movie about Gladiators.  I imagine it was "Spartacus and the Ten Gladiators" which came out in 1964.  We were totally overcome by the fighting in the movie. We especially enjoyed the scenes in the arena where gladiators would show their strength against each other in battles to the death.  Being boys, we were determined to become gladiators ourselves.  It just so happens that Rigby at the time had a gladiator ring.  I don't know if this was an old fountain or wading pools, but it was perfect for gladiator wars as it served as a coliseum.  The cement structure was about three feet deep, circular, had a step down along the edge all the way around, and gave suitable space for fighting.  
We we made to this arena at the Rigby Park for some reenacting.  My younger brother Charlie joined us for this expedition even though he had not seen the movie.  We armed ourselves with stick swords and spears and had tournaments to see who would sin.  It made for an exciting afternoon.
One type (of course who can prevent every such occurrence) in chopping my younger brother I banger his elbow with my stick.  He took to crying.  A passerby in a car, rolled down her window and expressed her disgust over the way we were abusing each other, and beating on each other with sticks.  She nagged at us for a bit before heading on her way.  We had a good laugh at her expense after she had gone.
Charlie's elbow wasn't the only casualty, we all banged a finger at least once.  We were trying to act out, rather than actually fight our battles.  But anyway, accidents happen.  In trying to make our activities lifelike we could not always control our swings.
It seemed we shortly became bored with this game, mostly due to the injuries.  It must have been some pretty serious boredom, because I do not ever remember playing "Gladiator" again.

Family Camping Trip 1998

Natalia

Joey

Geneve at the beech

Diane, Billy, Geneve, Clyde, Charity

Missy, Trevor, Jeremy, Linsey, Shelley and Mom

Dillon

Kayla Jo

Travis and Jeremy fishermen?

Trevor, Clyde, Miranda, Travis, Shelley

Travis, Sheri and Mark, Trevor

Billy, Weldon, Charity

Trevor, Caleb held by Shelley, Travis

Charlie

Geneve, Dillon, Charity, Sheri, Miranda, Travis

Charity, Sheri Miranda Jeremy, Linsey, Mom, Trevor

Billy

Trevor, Dillon, Shelley, Mom

Charlie and Diane

Payson Lake camping.  We visited there a couple times with family camp outs.  The lake was about a mile past the camp site.  It was really fun, we would play on the beach, or go out in a rubber raft, or use some kayaks Weldon had brought, or just go swimming.  Clyde had some of the boys fishing.  Mark caught his first fish.  We also hiked around the lake several times.  It was a fun walk.  On the opposite end was a dock which went out over the lake, and allowed for jumping into the water.  That was fun too.
Back at camp there was lots of food.  Caleb was small, but he loved ball.  We would pitch him the ball and he would smack it.  He seemed to never miss.  He batted left handed.
The camp site is of of the Nebo loop.  It was always fun to take a ride further up the loop, and behine Nebo peak.  There were several view areas further up the loop which were fun.
The whole camping experience was fun, both years we did family camp outs there.  

Billy, Geneve, Zachary, Clyde